Snailking are, truly to their name, the kings of slow, sludgy, heavy, moody, drony doom music. Their sophomore album Storm only confirms that claim, and for those who can appreciate that kind of music, it’s a good one!

The slowly crawling riffs, the desperate cries, and the confined sound of the drums make for a particularly deranging experience, one that would be better appreciated in a live setting with the loud and constant drone inside your guts, and the pounding bass drum that makes your whole chest resonate. However, it is a problem that every band in this kind of music must face, you either restrict your music to live shows and risk never being heard of by anyone outside of your local area, or you record yourself and lose the live experience that is truly remarkable for this music. But everyone into doom or drone music is aware of that.

Storm is an atmospheric abyss. The long songs, most longer than 10 minutes, give more than enough space to create and develop an atmosphere, and Snailking really put this to good use, most notably in the second song, Premonitions, which builds up for about four or five minutes to a somewhat anticlimactic end, which is really cool. This is only one example, but the whole album is filled with great song structure ideas.

Storm is definitely a great album for the doom/drone crowd!